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William Merritt Chase

(Nineveh, Indiana, 1849 - 1916, New York, New York)

Girl in White

c. 1901

Oil on fabric

84 3/8 x 40 in. (214.4 x 101.6 cm)

Collection of the Akron Art Museum

Bequest of Edwin C. Shaw

1955.16

More Information

This portrait depicts Florence Irene Dimock, the daughter of a Connecticut silk merchant, but it also expresses Chase’s conception of refinement. He placed Dimock in a formal setting, gave her flamboyant studio props and depicted her with an air of seriousness that by all accounts did not match her fun-loving personality. His inspiration for the courtly style and dynamic painting technique of this work was the art of seventeenth-century Spanish painter Diego Velasquez, whose works Chase admired while studying in Europe.

Keywords
Dress
American
Upper Classes
Painting
Figure
Child
Girl